...thank goodness!
This week was full of setbacks. I'm so happy its Friday. Lots of studying, homework, tests, lab work, and cell culture contamination!! Someone contaminated my cell cultures and I have to start over! And finals are coming up. I'm in total denial about the studying load that awaits me.
And I have an injured knee. How did that happen, you ask? WELL... I was getting off the train and coming up the stairs, when some GIANT lady comes barreling down the stairway (which is small) trying to make the train, and totally body slams me sideways. I was carrying a lot of stuff, so I didn't have a chance to move to the side before she hit me, and the top of my body got pushed against the wall while my left leg got twisted the other way..does that even make sense?! ha! Anyway, my knee really hurts now. Stupid lady. By the way she didn't make the train. Injured knee for nothing!
Enough of that. I did do something fun this week. Two things, actually.
First of all I went to zumba class (not the indian folk dancing class)! It was taught by a latino GUY and it was so much fun! First of all it was hard core. The instructor could shake it like girls in rap videos. It kinda freaked me out a bit. And there was this old man next to me wearing an outfit that resembled a wrestler's singlet that was totally breaking it down to the reggaeton music and I just could not stop laughing. He was awesome. The class was like a huge dance party and it was so much fun! Its totally what I needed to lighten my mood (this was before the giant lady/knee incident)!
Annnnddd, we went to go see the Rockefeller Christmas Tree! We tried to go to the actual lighting ceremony, and got there a couple of hours early, only to find that not only was the viewing area filled, but even the adjacent streets were packed and we couldn't even get close. Bummer. I wonder how long those people who were in the front had to wait there...probably all day? I think its safe to say that the tourists are hard core and its pretty much impossible to go to big events here.
So we went home, watched it on TV and ate dinner, and then went back at around 11pm when everyone from the event had gone home, and there it was!
It was so beautiful! I just LOVE lit Christmas trees! This one is 74 feet tall, I think. The star is made of Swarovski crystals and the lights blink on and off in different colors. It really is an amazing sight. This was probably the only touristy thing I cared about seeing and I'm so glad that we went.
You can even ice skate under the tree! Its super expensive around the holidays though, so we're going to go somewhere else. And at this rink they only allow a certain # of people at a time, so the average wait time is over an hour just to get onto the rink. It would be pretty amazing to skate here though! We even saw a couple get engaged on this rink. :)
Our entertainment of the night was this one guy on the rink that was skating by himself, but was dancing around with his arms out and doing twirls. Seth says that he looked like a drunk thespian on ice skates. He was awesome. I love it when people are brave enough to not care about what other people think of them.
After the tree we ventured into midtown for a bit to check out the other Christmas decorations.
I love Christmas time! It's soooo much fun for me to experience the change of seasons and the extravagant holiday decorations since I've been in Hawaii the last 5 years and that stuff just doesn't happen over there! I love it. Especially the weather change. And the fact that we got to go see all of this stuff this week makes up for all the time I'm going to have to spend in lab growing tissue cultures this weekend. I think I'm going to make some time tomorrow to go buy some little christmas decorations for my little tree. :)
Have a great weekend and good luck on all of your FINALS [ughhh!]!
